Credit to Fethrybestduck
von Fethrybestduck “Y’know, being in an underwater lab was pretty amazing but I hope for next time that my family is with me.” It did get lonely, after all. Years with no contact to anybody… “Yeah, that must’ve been super-duper scary at times.” He tilted his head, eyeing the other in half-concern, half-curiosity. “But, if you went down there again, what’d you wanna show me?” Now that the duckling thought of it, he had never really heard Fethry talk about it in depth. But Dugan was no stranger to that feeling either, however rowdy he could get. Oh! The older duck had actually been talking to himself, not expecting his nephew beside him but his expression changed to something more cheerful. His family doesn’t need to know his hidden feelings about being isolated for so long, while nobody ever returns your calls and meanwhile your nephew grows up in the jungle alone–well, not completely alone. Dugan had his porcupine family, just like Fethry had the krills. It’s fine. Even when it wasn’t, everything was fine. They were just busy, right? Not ignoring him entirely on purpose. Not like they could’ve known about his little nephew as well. “Scary? Not at all,” the loon responded with a smile. “My team was there for me. And the sea creatures were friendly as well.” It was a blessing and a curse. After a while, the underwater lab started to feel like home; especially since sea turtles, sharks, krills and a lot more creatures made him feel welcome. They never talked down on him, perhaps that’s why he loved animals so much. But…it would have been great to share this adventure with family. Focus. This wasn’t on his loneliness. This was about Dugan’s question. “EVERYTHING!” Yep, this sure was an easy question. “You see, Dugan, the ocean is like an entirely different wold! But sadly, the lab was destroyed so that’s a bit harder.” Sadly? More like another blessing-curse. At least that allowed him to finally get out. “OH! But my team is still around! I can introduce you to Mitzy! And maybe, someday I find another underwater lab so I can show you the wonders of the ocean. Just…let’s not try to stay there for years.” It could’ve been the odd switch in Fethry’s expression, or the fact that the Amazon jungle was prone to heavy, heavy rain that made Dugan have second thoughts about his uncle’s first claim. Were grown-ups simply better at handling these things, or was the little half-loon too thin-skinned? He tried to nod and accept what was said, but his smile faltered as he looked down. After all, it was his brother, Stick, who taught him how to climb; he loved those critters a lot. Stick, Barb, and his mother were the three things that kept him safe within the forest canopy all those years. How could a loving porcupine family and a little bit of seasonal downpour compare to, well, that? It was silly to draw comparisons if Dugan had it easy, but it never felt easy. The wilderness was no place for a child. “Mitzi? You mean the reallyreally BIG one? I bet there’s all sorts of cool fishies down there!” Dugan perked up – Fethry’s excitement was a good distraction. Though, the way he furrowed his brows made the child’s worry harder to hide. Especially after Fethry’s last comment. “If it makes ya feel better, I feel like that about the jungle a lot. ‘Cause you gots porkypines looking after ya and all the pretty pink river dolphins to look at from the Amazon, but the rainy seasons… they get super duper stormy.” He rubbed the back of his head, fighting back the growing frown on his bill. “But that’s not biggie! Right Unca?” It didn’t go past Fethry how his expression suddenly faltered, wondering what he said wrong to upset the child. Hopefully it wasn’t the not-scary part that upset his nephew; something the loon only said as to not worry his nephew about his experiences in that lonesome laboratory. He hide it from his family and he had to be brave for Dugan; who certainly was much worse off to live in isolation since he was an even younger duckling. They might be in the same boat but still…there are some things Dugan didn’t need to know. He had to play the cool, brave uncle. “Yup, exactly!” His own face lifted again when Dugan switched the topic to his beloved krill. “I’ve only told you about her, but it’s also time to introduce you two to each other someday!” The thought of that was exciting – Mitzy would LOVE his nephew! And the older duck was certain Dugan was going to like the giant krill too. Fethry stared down at his nephew. Huh. Never once had he heard his nephew before talking like that about the rainforest. Then again, while Dugan could be a rowdy sometimes, he was still a child. It was only natural and even Fethry had his worries about his isolation, especially when the lab was slowly falling apart but nobody came. However, the duck nodded proudly at the child’s question. “Of course not. I mean, the ocean has his own storms and survival isn’t always easy. But! You survived all those rainy seasons on your own with your porcupine family, and don’t get me started on the dry season. You were brave all those years.” “Brave…?” His expression softened with a weak, open-mouthed smile, though it was more genuine than the one he first forced. That… meant a lot coming from his uncle. Dugan never thought himself brave for for the fact; he was just trying to survive, right? Coendous were nocturnal creatures – they slept in the shade of the canopy by day. At the very least, this somewhat helped him beat the heat. Not that it made climbing trees any less difficult for a then three year-old. Was he really that brave in spite of his fears? Or maybe that was courage.Then again, he was no wordsmith. Isolation did strange things to a child’s vocabulary. The duckling knew how language worked (thankfully, The Incident happened after Dugan learned how to talk), but even now, sometimes words failed him. Say something. Even a small thank you, or an expression of excitement about Mitzi again. Say something. “…” When news spread of his discovery in the basin, Dugan was but a curiosity to the public. O Mogli de Manaus, as far as the press was concerned. Though everyone was fascinated, no one was proud of him. Well, maybe he was wrong about that. No words, just hugs. His eyes welled up, but he still smiled, and Dugan still worried about Fethry and the lab. He wanted to say that he was brave too, that his uncle’s validation meant the world to him. But the words were lost on him, and He felt as small and voiceless as the press made him feel. He clung tighter, letting out a small sob. “Yup. Brave.” Fethry repeated cheerfully. Survival was tough and yet the child managed to beat through nature until his uncle finally arrived. Sure, the press had nothing better to do than compare him with Mowgli or Tarzan, but Fethry never felt the need to make this comparison. Dugan was his own, strong person and not some TV character Even when sometimes Fethry hoped that his fate could’ve been avoided; In fact, nobody even told him about the plane crash even when he returned. It was only after visiting his brother Abner that the older duck found out. Which…still felt like a knot in his stomache. His sister wanted to search for him since she didn’t know where he was. In a way, the strange duck felt responsible for her….disappearance. He never told his silblings about his new job, mostly because it was so fast and sudden. But…he also put trust into uncle Scrooge to let others know about the communication device, to….visit or even pick him up. Nothing. Abner even became distant from the family, now more than ever. If he had let them know where he was, or tried reaching out to Scrooge harder… Maybe this wouldn’t have happened. His thoughts got interrupted when he heard Dugan’s sob, noticing with a smile how the child was clinging to him and scooped him up between his arms. “How about we go get some ice cream cream on the way to Mitz?” Dugan deserved it, after all. Four years of missed birthdays, four years without family, four years without someone to hold. As much comfort as they brought, neither porcupines nor krill-filled mason jars were ideal for hugs. Dugan buried the side of his face into Fethry’s sweater, unwilling to pull away as his uncle scooped him up. If only he felt as brave as the other thought of him, then maybe he’d stop all these silent comparisons. It only four years for Fethry didn’t equate to more than half of Dugan’s life. It’s been four years without Mama, and the memory is fuzzy. The drama surrounding whatever happened to her, and the closed-off responses when mentioned to kin, is even more daunting. …did it hurt others more to acknowledge her existence than it did for Dugan to miss her in the first place? Well, at least Feth and him had each other. Unca was open about some things, thankfully. Dugan almost didn’t pay notice to the offer. At least, not until he perked up at the mention of Mitzi. The little pintail let go and looked up, but stuck close to Fethry’s side. “Y-yeah. I’d like that.” He wiped at his bill and eyes, still managing an earnest smile despite his sad rasp. “The one by the docks, right? The place you said you reallyreally liked?” Sad thoughts wouldn’t ruin his day. Dugan had a new friend to see, after all. Once the child buried his face into his sweater, Fethry hold his nephew close to him. Of course, he know how Dugan felt. Living in isolation was not easy, even worse for a child. But he was proud of his nephew for surviving this long, even when Fethry wished he could have come earlier. As much as the loon loved his family, their habit of ignoring someone’s existence after they are gone was….a big problem in this family. Even with Della, they refused to talk about her or got angry at the mention of her name. Now it was the same with his sister; the only one who was willing to pull out some information was from his brother Abner. Who…told him that their sister only went in that plane to search for their younger brother. Which had been the last phone call his older siblings had together—He felt a knot in his stomache just thinking about it. If only he had contacted them before working as a janitor in an underwater lab, this mess wouldn’t have happened. But the loon wasn’t going to be silent when Dugan asked about his mother. It wasn’t right to ignore her existence, nor was it fair to the kid. Dugan had a right to know what his mother was like. Did it hurt talking about her? Yes. Did it hurt showing old pictures from their childhood towards his nephew? Also yes. But although the memories hurt….they were happy memories. Fethry gave Dugan a small pat on the head when he noticed the tears, placing the child on his shoulders. “Well, to the nearest ice cream shop then!” Fethry announced eagerly, bouncing off. Yep. He was bouncing while his nephew was up on his shoulders. What a weird uncle. His uncle might have been been the odd one out, and adjusting to those around them wasn’t easy for them both, but Dugan wouldn’t have had it any other way. He couldn’t imagine another duck filling Fethry’s (lack of) shoes. With all these severed ties, this was the closest he’d ever felt towards his family in a long, long time. “H-huh–?” Touch-starvation was a funny thing. More often than not, he struggled to let anyone – even Fethry – preen him. However, while the piggyback ride took him by surprise, it wasn’t unwelcome either. It was another warm embrace for him, and in spite of the tears, he started to giggle at Fethry’s bouncing antics. It made him feel tall, proud even! “You’re so silly!” Dugan thought out loud, blinking away the last of his tears. How his uncle managed to cheer him up in just one sweep? He could never put a finger on it, but it definitely worked. Happily clinging onto Fethry’s shoulders, he tried to focus on the day ahead of him. Small talk, small talk… how did small-talk work? It was a miracle the duckling could talk at all after everything that happened, but here he was, struggling to think of something to say. “Wh…what kinda… ice creams th-there are?” He wasn’t sure if he’d phrased that right – he was missing a word. “Waaaitaminute… flavors? Flavors! Ice cream flavors. What kinds do ya think they got?” “Oh, I’m the silly one?” Fethry replied with a teasing smirk but it was meant in a playful way. “Who came to the idea yesterday to clean the kitchen with slices of watermelon?” It was a wild experience to raise a child, especially since the loon had zero experience in good parenting but Fethry would like to believe that he was doing it better than his father. Besides, he had more fun in raising one. “Hmm…Strawberry? Vanilla? Mango? Raspberry? Chocolate? Pistachio? Blueberry? Blackberry? Bubble gum? Rocky road? Peach? Orange? Cherry? Apple? Black Raspberry? Caramel? Mint? Black Cherry? Rainbow? Lemon?” Aaaand the loon is just going on and on about all the ice cream flavors he can think of, that’s probably going to take a while. …. “Take your pick - OR we could take ALL the flavors! Get huge balls of ice cream!” “Heeey, at least I gots all the dust off the countertop!” The boy grinned as he chuckled, giving his uncle a tight squeeze around his shoulders. Was this what being like a real kid was like, fun little outings and hugs all around? Not that he minded napping inside the canopies, but nothing could beat warmth he’d felt. It was… nice. He felt safe with Fethry. Safer than he had in awhile. Tilting his head, Dugan listened as his uncle suggested flavors left and right… most of the names flew over his head, but he never thought there could be so many! “How about… all the fruit ones? Or maybe just watermelon?” he beamed, giving Feth a playful nudge. “Then we’ll smell as fruity as the kitchen! “Yes, and it also got us a lot of ant visitors.” However, the older duck didn’t sound upset about that. It was surprising to suddenly return to the kitchen filled with ants, but not the end of the world. They just had to put a lot of insects out afterwards. Fethry smiled, being an uncle was fun and even though the little loon could get rowdy sometimes, the older duck wouldn’t trade it for the world. He wasn’t prepared for it all when he first found Dugan, but they managed. “All the fruity ones it is! ALONG with watermelon! Then we’ll smell as fruity as….all the fruits in the world!” “YEAH!” Cue more laughter and giggles. That was going to be a lot of ice cream, but Dugan didn’t mind. “An’ maybe all our lil’ ant friends’ll come over! That way we don’t get big brain freezies.” Brain… freezies? Brain freeze? Well, at least he’d gotten the point across. “Soooo, what’cha waiting for? Ya gonna go order ‘em all or what?”